Register for pool and billiard games.



O. JOHNSON. REGISTER FOR POOL AND BILLIARD GAMES.

APPLIOATION FILED DEOHI, 1908.

Patented Mar. 9, 1909.

2 SHEETS-S1IEET 1.

FIG. I.

0. JOHNSON, REGISTER FOR POOL AND BILLIARD GAMES.

APPLICATION FILED DEG. 7,1908.

914,420. I Patented Mar. 9, 1909.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

z MMAmi OLE JOHNSON, OF CLEAR LAKE, SOUTH DAKOTA.

REGISTER FOR POOL AND BILLIARD GAMES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed December 7, 1908.

Patented March 9, 1909.

Serial No. 466,422.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, OLE J OHNSON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Clear Lake, in the county of Deuel and State of South Dakota, have invented a new and useful Re ister for P001 and Billiard Games, of which the followin is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in registers and is especially adapted for use in pool rooms to register the number of games plalyed at each table.

he object is to provide an efficient, accurate, durable and cheap device of said kind.

In the drawing: Figure 1 is a front view showing the front dial and a part of the hanger by means of which the device is suspended from the ceiling. Fig. 2 is a rear view of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a section on line aa, of Fig. 4. Fig. 4 is a right hand side elevation of Fig. 1 showing also the means of attaching device to ceiling. Fig. 5 is also a right hand elevation of Fig. 1 slightly modified and with the casing removed to expose the working mechanism. Fig. 6 is a detail view of the lever 15 in Fig. 3.

Referring to the drawing by reference numerals 1 designates any rigid bar secured at the upper end to the ceiling and secured at its lower end as at 2 to the frame 3 of the register. Said frame consists of a plate 4 having posts 5, to the outer ends of which is secured by screws 7 a stationary dial 6. Another dial 8 is mounted on a shaft 9 and adapted to rotate close outside of the plate 4. Said shaft 9 is journaled in the frame and in the rear dial 6, and its rear end 10 protrudes through the center of dial 6, and is provided with a dial finger 11 adapted to indicate on the rear dial the number of games that have been played, while the front dial indicates the same numbers by moving in rear of a stationa pointer 13 fixed to the frame-work as Wi li resently be described. Each dial is provided with an equal amount of successive numerals starting with 0, then 1, 2, 3 etc, u to any predetermined number desired, t e numbers increasing toward the right from the normally upper central portion of the dial.

In the upper, front central portion of the frame is fixed an inverted U-shaped stationary indicator 12 having its outer and downwardly pointed end 13 (above mentioned) in position vertically above the shaft and adapted to indicate the number of games played when the front dial is turned by a mechanism to be presently explained.

14 isa circular casing adapted to protect the mechanism in the frame. It extends between the two dials and may be fastened either to the stationary dial or to the frame itself.

The operating mechanism and its manipulation are as follows: Inside of the frame and about half way between the dials I provide a normally horizontal lever 15 pivotally secured at one end to a post 16 near the edge of the frame (as best shown in Fig. 3). Said lever has a downward curve 17 to permit it to swing above the shaft 9. The free end of lever 15 extends through a slot 18 in the casing 14 and to its end is pivoted at 19 a bifurcated extension 20, which is normally held in line with the lever by means of a spring 21 attached with one end to the upwardly curved extension 22 of the extension 20 and its other end secured to the lever at 23 (see Figs. 3 and 6). To prevent the extension 22 from coming too far down I provide the peg 24 in lever 15. On the lever 15 is also pivoted an upwardly projecting dog 25 pressed by a spring 26 into contact with a ratchet wheel 27, which is fixed on shaft 9. Said ratchet wheel is provided with teeth, preferably only one tooth for each numeral on the dial, for reasons to be presently exlained. The lower left hand post of the frame (see Fig. 3) has secured to it at 29, a hook 30. Said hook extends beyond the dials and has its free end normally positioned between the arms of the bifurcated piece 20. Said hook is adapted to support a triangle 32 of the kind used in starting a game of pool or billiards. This triangle is hung on said hook by pressing down the bifurcated piece 20 to the position 20 in Fig. 3, thereby permitting the triangle to pass it and the piece 20 is brought back to normal position by the spring 21, the lever being held at rest upon a pin 15 by a spring 15 The triangle 32 may have a cord 33 attached to it and running over a pulley 34 near the ceiling, and a weight 35 at its other end, as a means of preventing players from throwing the triang e under the table or hanging it on the wall and to remind them of hanging it on the hook 30, the weight being too light to support the triangle but is only to take up the slack of the cord.

In the use of the device, when starting the game, it is necessary to inclose the balls in a triangle, and with my triangle holder within convenient reach a player removes the triangle by lifting it up against and past the extension 20 of lever 15, and in so pushing upward until there is room for the triangle to pass between the upper end of hook 30 and the extension 20 (see Fig. 2) the dog 25 turns the ratchet wheel one tooth forward, thus moving the dial 8 one number to the left at the pointer 13. At the same time the dial finger 11 moves one number to the right on the stationary dial, thus recording every game played and making the record visible from both sides of the table. Before playing a series of games the front dial is turned to the position Where the 0 will come under the indicator 12 and the finger 11 also points to 0 on the rear dial. This may be done by simply taking hold of the dial finger and moving it forward. Each time the triangle has been used it is hung on the hook again and in removing it to start the next game it will again operate the lever 17 and increase by one the number indicated on each dial. This result is best and surest obtained by giving the wheel only one tooth for each number to be indicated on each dial. The wheel 27 is held against accidental turning by a flat spring arm 36 secured at 37 and engaging the notches of the ratchet wheel one at a time, to prevent reverse movement of the wheel; and to prevent too free rotation of the wheel I also provide a clamp-like device (see Fig. 5) consisting of a rigid finger 38 fixed to the frame and bearing lightly against the wheel, and another finger 40 pivoted at 41 and bearing on the opposite side of the wheel, said pivoted finger having an arm 42, provided with a thumb screw 43 touching the frame, so that upon being turned it will loosen or tighten the frictional contact of the fingers against opposite sides of the ratchet wheel.

Having thus described my invention what I claim, is:

1. In a registering device for billiard and pool games, a frame, a shaft journaled therein, two oppositely disposed dials, each with a similar circular scale of increasing numbers near its periphery, one of said dials being fixed to the frame, the other dial being fixed on one end of the shaft to rotate with it, a dial finger fixed on the opposite end of the shaft to register numbers on the stationary dial, a pointer fixed on the frame-work to register numbers on the rotated dial, a ratchet Wheel fixed on the shaft and having teeth corresponding in numbers to the numbers dividing each dial, a lever pivoted to the frame-work and extending beyond the same, a spring-pressed dog-carried by the lever and engaging the teeth of the ratchet wheel, a support on the frame for the lever and a spring holding the lever upon the support, a hook or upwardly curved arm projecting from the frame-work and adapted for the support of the triangle used in starting pool and billiard games, said lever traversing the opening of the hook so that in removing the triangle therefrom the lever must be swung in a direction that operates the ratchet wheel one tooth forward, and means for preventing accidental turning of the ratchet wheel in either direction.

2. In a registering device for billiard and pool games, a frame, a shaft journaled therein, two oppositely disposed .dials, each with a similar circular scale of increasing numbers near its periphery, one of said dials being fixed to the frame, the other dial being fixed on one end of the shaft to rotate with it, a dial finger fixed on the opposite end of the shaft to register numbers on the stationary dial, a pointer fixed on the frame-work to register numbers on the rotated dial, a ratchet Wheel fixed on the shaft and having teeth corresponding in numbers to the numbers dividing each dial, a lever pivoted to the frame-work and extending beyond the same, a spring pressed dog carried by the lever and engaging the teeth of the ratchet Wheel, a support on the frame for the lever and a spring holding the lever upon the support, a hook or upwardly curved arm projecting from the frame-Work and adapted for the support of the triangle used in starting pool and billiard games said lever traversing the opening of the hook so that in removing the triangle therefrom the lever must be swung in a direction that operates the ratchet wheel one tooth forward, and means for preventing accidental turning of the ratchet wheel in either direction, and means for suspending the register from the ceiling of the room in which the games are played.

3. In a registering device for billiard and pool games, a frame, a shaft journaled there in, two oppositely disposed dials, each with a similar circular scale of increasing numbers near its periphery, one of said dials being fixed to the frame, the other dial being fixed on one end of the shaft to rotate with it, a dial finger fixed on the opposite end of the shaft to register numbers on the stationary dial, a pointer fixed on the frame-work to register numbers on the rotated dial, a ratchet wheel fixed on the shaft and having teeth corresponding in numbers to the numbers dividing each dial, a lever pivoted to the framework and extending beyond the same, a spring-pressed dog carried by the lever and engaging the teeth of the ratchet Wheel, a support on the frame for the lever and a spring holding the lever upon the support, a hook or upwardly curved arm projecting from the frame-work and adapted for the support of the triangle used in starting pool and billiard games, said lever traversing the opening of the hook so that in removing the triangle therefrom the lever must be swung in a direction that operates the ratchet Wheel one tooth forward, and means for preventing accidental turning of the ratchet wheel in either direction, and means for suspending the register from the ceiling of the room in which the games are played, and means attaching the triangle to the ceiling in a yield.- ing manner for the purpose set forth.

4. In a registering device for billiard and pool games, a frame, a shaft journaled therein, two oppositely disposed dials, each with a similar circular scale of increasing numbers near its eriphery, one of said dials being fixed to the frame, the other dial being fixed on one end of theshaft to rotate with it, a dial finger fixed on the opposite end of the shaft to register numbers on the stationary dial, a pointer fixed on the frame-Work to register numbers on the rotated dial, a ratchet wheel fixed on the shaft and having teeth corresponding in numbers to the numbers dividing each dial, a lever. pivoted to the framework and extending beyond the same, a spring-pressed dog carried by the lever and engaging the teeth of the ratchet wheel, a support on the frame for the lever and a spring holding the lever upon the support, a hook or upwardly curved arm projecting from the framework and adapted for the support of the triangle used in starting pool and billiard games, said lever traversing the opening of the hook so that in removing the triangle therefrom the lever must be swung in a direction that operates the ratchet wheel one tooth forward, and means for preventing accidental turning of the ratchet Wheel in either direction, the portion of the lever traversing the hook opening being )ivoted to the main art of the lever an having a spring hol ing it normally in line with the lever but allowing it to yield downwardly t0 admit the triangle into the hook, and means to prevent the yielding portion from swinging onits pivot in an upward direction relative to the lever.

5. In a registering device for billiard and pool games, a frame, a shaft journaled there in, two oppositely disposed dials each with a similar scale of increasing numbers near its peripherly, one of said dials being fixed to the frame, t e other dial being fixed on one end of the shaft to rotate with it, a dial finger fixed on the opposite end of the shaft to register numbers on the stationary dial, a pointer fixed on the frame-work to register numbers on the rotated dial, a ratchet wheel fixed on the shaft and having teeth oorresponding in numbers to the numbers dividing each dial, a lever pivoted to the framework and extending beyond the same, a spring-pressed dog carried by the lever and engaging the teeth of the ratchet Wheel, a support on the frame for the lever and a spring holding the lever upon the support, a

hook or upwardly curved arm projecting.

from the framework and adapted for the support of the triangle used in starting pool and billiard games, said lever traversing the opening of the hook so that in removing the triangle therefrom the lever must be swun in a direction that operates the ratchet whee one tooth forward, and means forpreventing accidental turning of the ratchet wheel in either direction, the portion of the lever traversing the hook opening being pivoted to the main part of the lever and havin a spring holding it normally in line with theIever but allowing it to yield downwardly to admit the triangle into the hook, and means to prevent the yielding portion from swinging on its pivot in an upward direction relative to the lever, said yielding portion being bifurcated to straddle the end ortion of the hook. In testimony whereof affix my signature, in presence of two Witnesses.

OLE JOHNSON. Witnesses:

T. J. LAW, F. H. KLUoHMAN. 

